Five or six years ago, cannabis was not much of an industry and it was not professionally run yet.
Adam Bierman and Andrew Modlin, cofounders of MedMen, saw an opportunity to begin consulting companies in the cannabis industry in a professional direction. From there, they went into management services to work with companies that held a license but didn’t know where to start their business.
As the industry evolved they continued to branch out and all those factors recently came together in McCarran, Nev.
MedMen, a cannabis management and capital firm based in Los Angeles, broke ground on a new $15 million, 45,000-square-foot cannabis production and cultivation facility on Oct. 6.
The facility is located at the 12000 block of Truckee Canyon Court in McCarran. The facility is expected to be fully operational in 2017.
Daniel Yi, director of communications for MedMen, explained, “we are after markets with great opportunity.”
He explained saturation in Colorado’s market impeding MedMen from advancing into that market with this type of facility. MedMen has been working with municipalities in California on a similar project and is anticipating California state regulation in 2018. This will be the firm’s first project in Nevada and it is expected to produce 10,000 pounds of cannabis annually.
Nevada’s medical marijuana program is statewide and MedMen believes there is growing opportunity in the state as the vote for adult recreational use approaches.
Yi addressed that if adult recreational use does not pass this November it will happen at some point.
“It will be a highly regulated industry, and we welcome that,” he said.
Other factors that played into their decision for the location of this facility was cost of development being better in northern Nevada.
“Cannabis is the fastest growing industry in the country, expected to reach more than $20 billion dollars in sales by 2020,” said Adam Bierman, MedMen’s chief executive officer and co-founder in a press release. “This facility is a shining example of what is possible when smart capital and industry expertise come together. We selected Nevada for a number of reasons, in no small part its business friendly environment, but above all because this state is on the leading edge of the cannabis evolution. We are at an inflection point in our industry. We have passed the tipping point, and cannabis will become mainstream. Nevada just happens to be more progressive than most other states. We look forward to making this a show piece for Nevada, the cannabis industry and our company and we look forward to working closely with the local community.”
MedMen will manage the facility, which will produce flower, concentrates and a range of marijuana infused products. The facility will include a Dutch style greenhouse employing the latest in agro-technology, a cutting-edge extraction and production facility and test lab.
Miles Construction began construction on the project earlier this month. They will integrate a 26,000-square-foot greenhouse manufactured in Holland with the 19,000-square-foot extraction and production wing. The centerpiece will be the high-tech test lab for quality control. The project will employ nearly 200 during the construction phase, and 50 people when fully operational.
“The opportunities at the facility will be skilled labor,” Yi said.
A majority of the jobs will be agriculture. Others will include administrative, lab technicians and manufacturing for extracting oil and distributing the final product.
“We are in Nevada to stay,” Yi said.
MedMen is positioned for further growth in the state. They own additional land at their McCarran location that they will determine the use of depending on their growth pattern.
For more information, visit http://www.medmen.com.
